Israel forbids its citizens to travel to Germany from Wednesday.

In addition to the Federal Republic of Germany, the United States, Italy, Switzerland and six other states have been added to the “red list” of countries for which strict travel restrictions apply due to the Corona situation there.

Israelis are prohibited from leaving "red" countries; anyone entering from such a country must be in quarantine for at least seven days.

Christian Meier

Political Correspondent for the Middle East and Northeast Africa.

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After the cabinet decision of Monday morning, which still has to be confirmed by a Knesset committee, 62 countries are now classified as “red”.

30 percent of the newly discovered corona cases in the past week were from foreign travelers.

In addition to travel bans, the Israeli government is again imposing restrictions in everyday life in order to cushion the expected surge of the corona pandemic.

This limits the number of visitors allowed in shopping centers.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Sunday evening: "The fifth wave has begun." He referred to the early measures that Israel has taken, such as entry bans for non-Israelis.

This gained "valuable time", but in a few weeks the number of cases will rise sharply.

Every family has to prepare.

There is also criticism of the restrictions

There is great concern within the government that the vaccination campaign for children aged five to eleven, which began in late November, is slow.

Until a few days ago, only about ten percent of children in this age group were vaccinated, about 120,000 people.

According to media reports, the government has set a goal that 700,000 children will be vaccinated within two weeks.

The Ministry of Health reported 1,400 new corona cases on Monday, the highest number since October.

49 new infections with the omicron variant were discovered;

the total number is 175, with a strong upward trend.

There is also criticism of the new restrictions.

Tour operator and tour guide associations are trying to overturn travel restrictions before the Supreme Court.

The tourism industry in Israel has suffered badly from the pandemic.

The associations argue that the government's travel restrictions are inappropriate and ineffective.

The Supreme Court has scheduled a hearing for Thursday.

Criticism in Israel has also provoked that, despite the entry bans for non-Israelis, Jewish tour groups continued to enter the country.

Shortly before Christmas, this aroused great resentment, especially among Christian tour operators.